The Maryland Line in the Confederate States Army.Goldsborough, W. W. (William Worthington)
History
The Maryland Line in the Confederate States Army.
Goldsborough, W. W. (William Worthington)
Confederate States of America. Army; Maryland -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Thus ended the battle of Front Royal, if it can be so termed, and in
which Marylander met Marylander for the first time in the war. It has
been said Kenly’s command had fought a vastly superior force of the
Confederates, whereas it was a much inferior one, which, however did not
compel him to withdraw from the position he had taken in front of the
town, but the flank movement by heavy bodies of our troops did, and it
was then we pressed our advantage. The actual number of assailants prior
to his recrossing the river with what remained of his command, did not
exceed four hundred men. And it has been more than once asserted, also,
that Colonel Kenly did not offer the spirited resistance to the
Confederate advance expected of him, and that there was no reason why he
should have lost his command. This is doing him injustice. He fought his
troops like the brave man that he is, and Commissary Banks can thank him
for being instrumental in saving the little he did from the wreck of his
army at Strasburg and Winchester. He committed one great, inexcusable
error, however, in not having his cavalry scouts and pickets out, but it
is said they reached him but an hour or two before our attack, although
he had called for them several days before. If this be true, he deserves
no blame or censure for his misfortune at Front Royal.
The morning after the fight, when the prisoners were drawn up in line,
it was truly amusing to see the men of the two Maryland regiments greet
each other. “Why, if there ain’t my brother Bill;” “And there’s my
cousin Jim,” could be heard, whilst nearly all recognized old friends
and acquaintances, whom they greeted cordially, and divided with them
the rations which had just changed hands.
The kindest attention was shown the wounded officers and men, the former
being paroled, and allowed to accept the invitation of the citizens to
accompany them to their homes, where they were provided with all they
required. And whilst we were thus treating our enemies in the field, the
cowardly ruffians in Baltimore, who had remained at home, were brutally
assaulting every citizen there suspected of sympathizing with the people
of the South in their struggle for independence, because some poltroon,
who had deserted his companions at the first fire, reported they had
been murdered in cold blood to a man after having surrendered
themselves.
The officers of the First Maryland Confederate called upon those of the
First Maryland Federal, and offered them any assistance in their power,
and in some instances it was thankfully accepted. Colonel Kenly was
quite badly wounded, by either a pistol ball or a sabre cut, in the
head, and at the time that I saw him appeared to be suffering much
mental depression, caused by his misfortune. His wound he seemed to care
but little for; but, as he paced the floor, would, from time to time,
bend over his adjutant, Tarr, who was desperately wounded, and gaze
anxiously in his face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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